The BFNL will undertake a review of under-18 football in the region in a bid to ensure there's a full compliment of teams in the future.
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Castlemaine and Maryborough have pulled out of this year's BFNL under-18 competition because of a shortage of players, leaving eight teams in the league.
"Both clubs thought they were going to field teams, but leading up to the season they lost a lot of players to district clubs,'' BFNL chair Dr Carol McKinstry said on Monday.
"We looked at putting together a merged team between the two clubs, but that wasn't possible because once the players heard their club wouldn't be playing they left to go to other BFNL teams or to district clubs.
"We are looking at doing an extensive review involving the clubs, the league and the (AFLCV) commission about what things we can put in place so that all clubs have under-18 teams next year."
Losing players to district clubs or other BFNL clubs is not a new problem for Castlemaine and Maryborough.
Castlemaine has lost several quality juniors to BFNL clubs over the past five years, while the plethora of district clubs around the Maryborough region has always been an issue for the Princes Park Magpies.
"It's really not fair when clubs who have not put the development into these kids come along and pick them off,'' McKinstry said.
"That's why we want the commission involved... we want some structural changes implemented.
"The under-18 age groups in footy and netball are the future of our clubs. We know there's a big drop-off in that age group, but we get disappointed when clubs get kids to that age group and then the kids take off to other clubs."
Castlemaine is also not fielding an A-grade netball side this year, while Maryborough doesn't have an A-reserve netball team.
Despite the ongoing battles to retain and attract footballers and netballers, McKinstry was confident both clubs were doing everything in their power to be sustainable in the BFNL long-term.
"Maryborough, in particular, have done everything we've asked of them for a couple of years now,'' McKinstry said.
"There needs to be structural changes to the number of clubs in that region.
"There's not enough footballers, netballers or club volunteers to keep all of the clubs around the Maryborough region sustainable."